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Barr: Active-duty troops were only to be deployed as ‘last resort’

#Barr: Active-duty troops were only to be deployed as ‘last resort’

June 7, 2020 | 1:03pm

Attorney General William Barr said there was wide agreement inside the Trump administration that active-duty troops should only be used in American cities to control national protests as a “last resort.”

“The decision was made to have at the ready and on hand in the vicinity some regular troops. But everyone agreed that the use of regular troops was a last resort and that as long as matters can be controlled with other resources, they should be,” Barr told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday.

He said he agreed with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that the federal government had “adequate resources” available to handle the protesters but wanted the US troops nearby in case they were needed.

He also denied a CBS News report that President Trump last Monday called for the deployment of 10,000 active-duty troops to quell the protests that began after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.

“The president never asked or suggested that we needed to deploy regular troops at that point. It’s been done from time to time in our history. We try to avoid it. And I’m happy that we were able to avoid it on this occasion,” Barr said.

He did confirm that “some” 82nd Airborne military police were brought to the area, but not into Washington, DC.

Facing nationwide protests that turned violent in some areas with looting and arson, the president proposed invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that he said would have allowed him to deploy the military troops on American streets.

Barr also defended the removal of protesters in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been damaged during rallies Sunday, saying the perimeter had to be extended another block around Lafayette Park.

Barr — who accompanied Trump as he crossed Lafayette Park and took part in a photo-op outside the historic church — rejected the contention that it was a peaceful protest, saying “violent riots” took place around the park in the days before, in which park police had repeatedly come under attack.

On Monday, Barr said three warnings were given to the crowd to move back.

“The park police was facing what they considered to be a very rowdy and non-compliant crowd. And there were projectiles being hurled at the police,” he said on CBS.

He denied reports that tear gas was shot into the crowd, although the park police acknowledged that chemical agents were used.

“No, there were not chemical irritants. Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant,” Barr said.

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